The C. G. Klinger small cello
Another masterpiece from the Leipzig museum!
A little report on the small five-string cello by Christian Gottlieb Klinger, now in the Leipzig Grassi Museum.
It is a beautiful small cello that didn’t attract much attention until now because its neck was replaced, and the scroll is also not original. At the moment, it is a five strings small cello. We don’t know where and when it was settled in the actual conditions.
C. G. Klinger lived and worked in Klingenthal, in the Vogtland near Markneukirchen. He was born in 1730, the son of Christian Friederich, a violin maker, and died in 1792. This instrument is believed to be made around 1775.
It is interesting despite the not original settings because the body is beautifully preserved, typical German lutherie of the place and time, and small to be a cello. It has no sign of da gamba playing and has some wear on the back, compatible with a da Spalla position.
The body length is 49,7 cm, and the ribs are 8,5/8,8 cm.
Many details are similar to the Wagner in Lübeck’s Museum, showing a similar making process and same making environment, but this is nicer and more neatly executed.
In the idea of the curator Veit Heller, this instrument perfectly aligns with the typical ensemble of the place and time: small ensembles, not employing big basses, but small and light, to easily climb up and down the steep stairs of church balconades and join processions.
News from da Spalla world
This summer you can take a course with Sergey Malov! Here is the link. He may accept students of any instrument!!
Updates from our workshop
This week, despite different sorts of emergencies, from a broken car to rehair emergencies, that took us time to write and decorate this newsletter properly, we took a good time at the bench, and both of us are now carving the back.
We are testing Leatherwood Bespoke rosin, which now offers a recipe specific for gut strings. We’ll report on that later!
And we also received the prototype of the new modern strings made by Eliakim Boussoir!
So a lot is going on, and we feel the excitement!
Featured video of the week
Spring is here! Enjoy in these first evenings of spring this sweet aria gratioso by Jean-Pierre Guignon, from Fernandez violons!
